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The top federal prosecutor spot for the Western District of Pennsylvania is vacant, only one of five in the entire country.
“It’s just a mess,” said Carl Tobias, University of Richmond law professor. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Tobias is referring to the appointment process of the 93 U.S. attorneys, who influence how the office enforces federal laws in any given region. For example, they may prioritize certain areas such as drug trafficking or white-collar crime.
Traditionally, the search for U.S. attorneys involves consultation with the state’s U.S. senators of the same political party as the president. Once nominated, U.S. attorney candidates are reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which then forwards nominees to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. However, President Donald Trump and his second administration have mainly appointed interim attorneys, at least 70; there were only eight interim attorneys in President Trump’s first term.
Back in August, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s communications team said it had been in touch with the White House Counsel’s office after narrowing down candidates for the next U.S. attorney for the Western District.
“Until there’s an [appointment], there’s nothing to indicate that this still isn’t the case,” said Mike Comber, former Assistant U.S. Attorney.
McCormick’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Western District encompasses about 40% of the state, from west of Altoona, up to the New York border and down to the West Virginia border. The U.S. attorney oversees a staff of around 130 prosecutors, civil litigators, and other employees spread across three offices in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown.
Interim U.S. attorneys – appointed by the president or attorney general – can serve for 120 days at a time or until a presidentially appointed U.S. attorney is confirmed by the Senate. They can also be installed as an acting attorney if a federal district court declines to re-appoint them.
Troy Rivetti was appointed the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania in January after Eric Olshan, appointed under President Joe Biden, stepped down. It’s customary for an attorney installed by a previous administration to leave the office.
Acting U.S. attorneys serve under the federal Vacancies Reform Act, which generally limits acting service to 210 days, or up to 300 days during a presidential transition. Rivetti’s time ran out in mid-November, leaving the position vacant, but he still leads the office as First Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Only five districts in the U.S. have vacancies for Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys: Central California, New Jersey, Vermont, Eastern Washington, and Western Pennsylvania.
“They’re mostly blue states; that’s the problem,” Tobias said. “I’m not defending the old system, but I think it did work reasonably well, where the state senators had played an active role. They knew the local bar, and they knew who would be a good U.S. attorney...we didn’t end up with multiple interim attorneys or challenges.”
Tobias pointed to an example of New Jersey, where President Trump’s interim pick of Alina Habba’s 120 days ran out, leading to a court challenge over her continued service. Habba ultimately resigned after an appeals court ruled she was unlawfully serving in the position. Other courts have also ruled that U.S. attorneys have been appointed illegally in Nevada, California and Virginia.
During President Trump’s second term, only 18 U.S. attorneys have been confirmed by the Senate, including David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Brian Miller was appointed interim attorney by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi in late-October. Miller’s 120 days will run out in February.
Tobais said all 93 U.S. attorney spots are typically filled within the first year of a presidential term and expects more confirmations to happen before the end of the year.
“Usually I think by now, we’d have about 75 [confirmed],” Tobias said. “Hopefully, more are confirmed in the second year, but that means that they will have spent a year or 20 months without a permanent leader. It has an effect nationwide that also has an effect between each individual office and the headquarters in Washington.”
The federal government shutdown, which was the longest in U.S. history, did not have much effect on the U.S. Attorney confirmation process, said Tobias.
“The Judiciary Committee was working, and the floor was working on those nominees,” Tobias said. “[The U.S. Attorney confirmation process] is not what's happened conventionally, so it's a little unpredictable.”
Comber said a confirmation for the Eastern District may have happened first because of the district’s size, which is one of the largest in the country — nearly six million people reside in its nine counties.
As far as when the next appointment could be for Western Pa., Comber said confirmations for this district have typically happened by the summer or fall of an inauguration year, but he still expects someone with strong federal criminal experience.
Tobias said the Western District is in a good position, as Rivetti has served in the office in various capacities since 1997, including Chief of the Criminal Division. He has also served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney from June 2023 to January 2025 and from November 2021 to February 2023.
“The ones that are empty hopefully will rely on the first assistant. And that person, usually like the one you have in the Western District, is likely to have a lot of experience,” Tobias said. “They can probably do fine in the short term, but it’s not an ideal situation long term...the office would be less effective.”
Erin Yudt is a reporter with Pittsburgh Media Partnership Newsroom, part of the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. She most recently was a multimedia content producer and digital reporter at WKBN in Youngstown and is a graduate of Point Park University. Reach her at erin.yudt@pointpark.edu.
The PMP Newsroom is a regional news service that focuses on government and enterprise reporting in southwestern Pennsylvania. Find out more information on foundation and corporate funders here.
Header image: The U.S. Federal Courthouse in Downtown Pittsburgh, one of three federal courthouses in Pennsylvania's Western District of Pennsylvania, on December 11, 2025. The next U.S. Attorney for the district has yet to be announced. Photo by Erin Yudt.
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